<p dir="LTR"><span>TEHRAN TIMES – Austria’s Oberbank and Denmark’s Danske Bank signed deals worth €1 billion and €500 million respectively with Iran on Thursday to be the first European banks to resume banking ties with the country after the lifting of sanctions in January 2016.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>The first deal was signed in Vienna by Oberbank’s CEO and Chairman of the Board Franz Gasselsberger and representatives of 14 Iranian banks, IRNA reported.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>As per the agreement, the Austrian bank will finance a variety of infrastructure and production projects in Iran.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>In another meeting on Thursday, Denmark’s Export Credit Agency (EKF) signed an agreement with the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran (OIETAI).</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>The deal was signed by the director of OIETAI, Mohammad Khazaie, and the CEO of EKF Anette Eberhard in Vienna.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>During the meeting, Khazaie said “Iran is interested in cooperation with Denmark in different areas like water resources management, renewable energies as well as environment.”</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>During the visit of Iranian banking delegation to Austria, another €500-million deal was signed with Denmark’s Danske Bank.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>Although Iranian banks have already signed a €8 billion deal with South Korea and a total of $35 billion worth of deals with Chinese counterparts, the new deals were first banking agreements Iran has had with European banks since 2002.</span></p>